The Pantheon
by thechroniclerofthehouse
Summary: Loosely based on The Age of Zeus by James Lovegrove. Placed here because there's no The Age of Zeus fanfiction archive. Please review. Sequels involving Harry Potter, Twilight, Artemis Fowl, Gone and The Hunger Games pending.
1. Chapter 1

I was leaving from my secondary school, arriving down from the overhead bridge. A bus was coming: 196, it was. It only came once every 15 minutes. If I couldn't get it, then I'd have to wait another 15 minutes, at which point it'd be practically outside my house.

Suffice to say, I ran faster. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, _shit_!" I hissed repeatedly, as it began to pull away. As my legs pumped faster and faster, time seemed to slow, but I wasn't really caring about that. My feet thumped the asphalt and I ran like the track athlete I was.

And I overtook the bus.

"WHAT ON EARTH?!" I whisper-shrieked, turning around and running backwards, staring disbelievingly at the secondary school students and the bus. Everything seemed to have stopped, or at least was moving very, very slowly. I regained my wits quickly. Evidently, I was running or moving at such a high speed that everything else in comparison was moving extremely slowly. I couldn't fathom when I'd developed this ability; probably during the 6 months when I was taking a hiatus from running.

I turned around and continued running, overshooting more and more seemingly stationary cars, grinning like an idiot. I ran until the cars began to move a little faster, at which time I was already 20 metres or so from my house. This was nigh upon impossible. Sure, I was a very fast runner, but not _that_ fast. But then again, my experience was irrefutable. I checked my watch. 13 seconds had elapsed.

I started running again. About 2 seconds had elapsed by the time I'd dropped my bag in the house and ran out again, and then thought better of it and put my bag back on and ran to the closest library. After all, my aunt, who was visiting, would be suspicious if my bag was in the house while I was supposedly on the way home.

While I finished my homework in the library, thoughts exploded through my head: now that I had super-speed, what was I to do with it?

Probably public opinion will consider it suspicious that I responded so normally when I discovered this ability. Actually, I've always been able to run extremely fast. As mentioned, I'm a track athlete, probably the most decorated track athlete in my nation who's 13 year old. And that's not the only queer thing about me.

In truth, I am possessed of strength, senses and intelligence superior to that of my normal classmates. And, of course, my speed is off the charts. With great power comes great maturity, and so I know how to hide my abilities.

Also, I can't be hurt.

I can fall very hard and will be let off with some minor bruising. All these things have affected me a great deal, but I know I can't let anyone know. Completely unaffected by my abilities, though, are my social skills. Thus, though I compete in running and intellectual contests and typically win a great deal of money, it's not really going to help in making true friends, and to be sure, I haven't many false friends, for that matter.

I finally finished my homework and prepared to set off home. It really wasn't so hard, now that I knew what I could do. I just started running in a particular direction, and once everyone around me started moving slower, I started dashing. My feet gobbled pavement, and then I was back.

That night, my sweet dreams of running into my crush's apartment and surprising her with a bouquet of flowers was interrupted by surreptitious tapping at my window grille. Shaking the sleepy dust out of my eyes, I looked out and took about a minute to comprehend what I was seeing.

A girl was hovering outside my window, waving at me furiously.

hermes outartemis in

My eyes snapped open, adjusting quickly to the moonlight.

It was a new spark, burning brightly in the darkness of millions of normal people. I didn't know how I'd missed it. Probably because there were so many people to look at. "Sensed a new one, have you, Artemis?" Zeus muttered, taking care not to alarm me and break my focus. I nodded quietly, and flew off, as softly as I could, like a zephyr scuttling leaves.

The boy whom I'd found was probably Hermes. The closer I got, the more his abilities revealed themselves to me. He had super-speed. _Really_ super-speed. The boy was sleeping, but my consistent, urgent tapping at his window grilles woke him up eventually.

He stared at me for a bit, eyes as wide as they could probably go, and then I spoke. "Don't panic, boy, I've got around the same abilities as you. You know, enhanced strength, senses, intelligence, flight, et cetera?" The boy, about my age, stared at me a bit longer. He grinned. "I can fly?"

And promptly disappeared. Nothing gave away where he'd gone. There was just a soft sound, like a displacement of air, and then he just disappeared. No fancy effects, none at all. He just disappeared.

I whirled around, and came face to face with the boy. He'd evidently mastered flight in a matter of seconds; to me, at least. "Who're you?" He queried, zipping from side to side, which appeared to me as if he was teleporting around me. "Artemis," I replied, "and you've got to be Hermes." Hermes raised an eyebrow. "Huh."

I brought him to Zeus, whilst telling him about the few of us who'd already made the acquaintance of each other; namely, me, Zeus, him, Poseidon, Hades and Hera. Zeus did his usual induction into the company, clapping Hermes on the back and introducing him to the rest. After getting to know his abilities, an idea was hatched and refined.

Hermes had sufficient strength to carry me on his shoulders; he was a track athlete, apparently. With me guiding him, we'd be able to go anywhere fast.

artemis outzeus in

it was funny, how, once Artemis and Hermes discovered their abilities, the others started popping up like wildfire.

Though I didn't really think it was due to me, of course. I was just the organizer, the will behind how Artemis used her "Olympian radar" to find Hermes and Athena and the rest, the leader. And what is a leader if his subordinates don't obey him and respect him?

We gathered together once a week, the 13 of us, all 13 years old, all having gone through puberty, all with powers. It was really quite amazing. I mean, the basic idea of this gathering was to chat with others who understood what we were going through. If friendships were forged along the way, that was a bonus.

"Zeus?" I looked up. Everyone was looking at me expectantly. It was the first time the 13 of us had gathered in the same place at the same time, and since I was the leader, they wanted me to give the first order of the meeting. The method of naming each of us after Greek gods was also my idea, by the way. It was based on our abilities. A fortunate side effect of this was that we wouldn't be able to make a slip of the tongue when addressing each other; we only knew each other by the names of Greek gods.

I deliberated, at any rate, for a second or so, and then looked up. "We're Olympians, so let's build an Olympus. A base, somewhere where people won't find us." Hermes disappeared, and everyone else twiddled their thumbs for a bit while he criss-crossed the globe, and finally returned.

"I've found a place," he announced, "somewhere in the unexplored American desert. It can't be seen from above, and is shaded." Setting off at a slower pace, Hermes guided us to the destination, and we arrived eventually.

The place which Hermes had found had quite a peculiar atmosphere. Hades sneaked up on Aphrodite and stuck out his spindly arms while everyone was looking around, shouting, "Slender Man!" Yes. That was it. It was a little too shadowy, a little too spooky. So I formulated a rule for the place. "Anyone dropping off here for a bit must be accompanied by, at minimum, 2 Olympians," I announced.

Then the construction began proper. Hades raised his arms above his head and hauled a ton of rock up, shaping it as it came, into a cosy little nook in the shadow of the cliffs. Hermes disappeared with Ares and reappeared with a large amount of furniture. Hephaestus set a fire blazing in the corner. I charged an electrical outlet with lightning. Hera mutated some creatures to guard us. And Mount Olympus was done.

We retired into the cabin, talking excitedly as Apollo hoisted globes of calming light into the darker corners of the construction. However, to be sure, we talked excitedly about everything; we were young, after all.

Though, with powers like these, it wasn't likely that we were young inside, not at all. And if I had anything to do with it, we wouldn't. Not for a long time more.


	2. Chapter 2

-5 years later-

I sat, bending down on the chair, elbows on my knees, waiting for the guidance counsellor to finish droning about how bad it was to hit my girlfriend and get her pregnant. Truthfully, I could leave anytime I wanted. I could fly; Aphrodite could shift my features, what was the point in waiting for Dionysius, the youngest of us, to finish his birthday celebration?

Of course, I did. Most of us would miss our family when we departed. Most of us wanted closure. Definitely, though, I didn't, and neither did Artemis. That was 2 of us Hera and Athena didn't need to clean up. And, perhaps, Demeter too. Apparently, her parents had been really pissed when _she_ got pregnant.

But back to the guidance counsellor. He bid me farewell; I stood up and walked out the door. Charlotte looked at me; her face tear-stained, hands clenched over her distended belly. I didn't bother to look at her. Athena's voice spoke in my head. _Oi, everybody,_ she announced, _we're ready. Dionysius has finished his bloody cake. Hermes, get the hell over here and bring Hera. We're ready to begin._

I smiled wryly. The secretary outside the guidance counsellor's office stared at me in disbelief. "Hopelessly recalcitrant, this boy," she murmured, "a true delinquent." I gave her the finger and walked outside. Everyone else was indoors. I spread my arms and lifted off. No one was watching; at least, I was fairly sure no one was watching.

The flight didn't take more than half an hour, at most. Artemis was lounging around on one of the chairs, the lights completely out, quietly enjoying the darkness. I sat down and created an ice crystal formation on the wall to alert her. She sat up. "Poseidon," she muttered, "you're here. Athena's done purging herself and Hermes. They're working on Hera at the moment."

I nodded briefly, and then walked outside to obtain more water so I could create a nice, strong trident. And, admittedly, to reflect over Hades and Demeter. Oh, but he had a _crush_ on her. How'd he react when he saw her again for the first time in 4 months? I bet she's grown, and not in a good way. Just like that cheerleader bitch, Charlotte.

I raised my hand to the sky and closed my eyes, calling all water in the vicinity to me. Globules of that lovely transparent liquid flowed to my hand and formed a trident, freezing to ice where my hand touched it.

poseidon outdionysius in

Hermes and the gang came for me last.

I mean, it wasn't too hard to imagine. After all, I was one of the weaker ones, like Apollo, Artemis and Aphrodite. Those were the weaker ones. Well, maybe Artemis wasn't so weak, but compared to even Ares, she paled in comparison. To assist in their purging scheme thing, I sent out a little bit of inhibition loosening throughout the house.

Of course, since it was 3 in the morning on Saturday, it was just going to make my family sleep more deeply. But Athena and Hera needed all the help they could get. A soft thump was heard in the living room, and I ran downstairs to find the 3 of them. "Morning, all!" I greeted them as cheerfully as I could, having stayed awake the entire night due to excitement.

Hermes grunted. Athena headed upstairs with Hera. "What's the problem, Hermes?" I queried. "What the fuck do you think, Drunk Boy?" He snapped. "We've been working for 5½ hours straight, and we're bone tired. How about giving us a little shot of adrenalin, huh?" "Gladly." A little bit of concentration later, Hermes looked more awake, and disappeared for a moment.

I sat down and watched the History channel as Hermes walked out of the kitchen with a bottle of Coke. It didn't take long for Athena and Hera to come down, and then I gave them some adrenalin, too. Hermes quickly tired out on the return trip, though, and he collapsed into his chair nearly immediately without bothering to be shifted by Aphrodite. So did Athena and Hera, for that matter.

The 9 Olympians in the cabin were all in differing degrees of wakefulness, so I, having stayed awake for 5½ hours, decided to catch up on my sleep and slumped into a chair, lowering everyone else's inhibitions. In seconds, everyone was snoring, and I was no different.

Probably Zeus had wanted to put his Grand Plan in motion once Aphrodite shifted Hermes, me, Athena and Hera. He'd been working on it practically since we first met. We, all of us, understood what he was getting at. It all had started when we were chatting one day, really, about 3 years ago. It was all on the internet, in fact. Zeus probably didn't want to contend with, in worst-case scenario, 12 angry Olympians face to face.

On second thoughts, as I fell into slumber, I didn't want to either. Making 12 Olympians sleep against their will was tantamount to pissing them off tremendously. Then I was too asleep to regret my decision.

COMMENCE CHAT (Private chat, limited to 13 listed)

Lord-of-le-clouds: hey, people!

Lord-of-le-clouds: man is at nature a savage beast. Arthur Schopenhauer said that.

supa-dupa-speedster: yeah, well, Zeus, yo mama said that, not Arthur something-or-other. Lol.

She-thought,-she-concluded,-she-conquered: stfu hermes. I'm trying to listen. Zeus, continue.

Lord-of-le-clouds: yes, well, is everyone there, athena?

She-thought,-she-concluded,-she-conquered: yes

Lord-of-le-clouds: good. Don't leave.

Lord-of-le-clouds: so, basically, my idea is as that spoke of in James Lovegrove's The Age of Zeus, book 2 of the Pantheon series. Don't think too many people have read it, but when they see us, they'll probably forget about it altogether

Idon'tbleed,imakeyoubleed: WTF. GET TO THE POINT

Lord-of-le-clouds: k, if you say so, ares. Basically, Aphrodite shape-shifts us, Athena and Hera reverse the effects we've had on our friends and family and basically wipe us off the face of the earth. And Aphrodite alters our bodies so no one recognizes us even then. And we get iconic stuff to symbolize the fact that we're Olympians, like a lightning bolt for me, a trident for Poseidon, a black staff with

SCREW-THE-SUN,-I-AM-THE-SUN!: ok, people, this is Artemis using Apollo's account. Zeus. We get the point. So then what do we do?

Lord-of-le-clouds: well, I think you'll like this bit.

Lord-of-le-clouds: we take over the world.


	3. Chapter 3

"_She's the girl that no one ever knows_

_And I say hi but she's too shy to say_

_Hello_

_She's just waiting for that one_

_To take her hand and shake her up_

_I bet_

_I could."_

Ah. The band We the Kings never fails to resonate with me, every single time.

My eyes swivel across to Demeter, a few seats away from me. Of all of us, I'm the first to awake. I was never a very lazy person. She sleeps, eyes closed, hand resting serenely on her swollen abdomen. Her red hair cascades onto her chest. In my personal opinion, she's the exact representation of a fertility goddess. She's beautiful. I stare at her for a little more. Eventually, I arrest myself and knead my forehead. What I need is courage.

I grab in one hand my book on rocks and minerals, and in the other a thin, light black staff with a clean human skull mounted on top. Garbed in black, except for the silver skull insignia on my chest, I drift outside. The music throbs into my ears. Crooking my finger, the ground on which I'm standing slowly sinks lower, until I'm completely underground.

"_She's the girl that no one ever knows_

_Works a double just to buy her clothes_

_Nicotine and faded dreams_

_Baby just believe_

_There's no one else like me."_

A cavern is hollowed out, underground; a tight, intimate space. I sit on a throne of compacted rock, a thin shaft of light piercing just so that I can read my book. Zeus' enraged growl comes from above, and a whimper from Dionysius penetrates the 3 feet of ground all the way down. Suddenly, I hear the sound of a hand tapping on the ground. "Who's there?" I yell the question upwards, hostile and prickly. This is MY Fortress of Solitude. No one can enter.

"It's me, Hades. Demeter." Well. _Maybe_ not no one, exactly. "Oh! Come in, then." I make a gesture, and Demeter descends on a platform of rock as a throne forms beside me. "Ares is busy tormenting Dionysius. I just wanted a little bit of solace." She waddles over, beautiful green dress reflecting the little shafts of light that I just created. I smile understandingly; I can relate.

She's sitting right beside me. Today's a day of change. I've left my home. My family won't recognize or remember me. Why not be different? "Um, Demeter..." My throat constricts. Sweat coats my hands. Demeter tilts her head at me questioningly. Her eyes are full of life. She's greenery. I can just raise the dead. The zombie-king, that's just what I am. God of the dead. She's the fertile goddess of the fields. I'm not fit for her.

My mouth closes.

Demeter seems somewhat disappointed. "Oh, you've got nothing to say, Hades?" She turns away. A blossom in her hands wilts. I never noticed it. "Never mind. I thought you were going to comment on something."

I blurt, "You look wonderful." She looks back at me. I bite my lip. Having made such an inference, I've got to carry on. How thick-skinned I must seem! "You're lovely. You don't look bloated while pregnant, you're blossoming. Don't let that blossom wilt, Demeter. I've had a crush on you all my life. You're beautiful. I'm not kidding. I-"

My mouth closes. My stammering seems awfully like bluster. Unnoticed, beneath me, in my MP3, James Blunt starts singing, "_You're beautiful, you're beautiful, you're beautiful, it's true._"

Demeter's lips tremble. She blinks a bit. Then she leans across and kisses me.

hades outares in

Dionysius is a wimp. It's true. He _is_ a wimp. Just a harmless bit of punishment, and he cried like a baby. Soon enough, though, Apollo stopped me. "Moderation, Ares," he frowned, shaking his finger at me. Fine, then. I stopped. Zeus spoke. "Let's go."

We departed the little clubhouse that'd been our meeting place for 5 years. With a little bit of nostalgia, some of the Olympians, myself included, stayed behind to eradicate any evidence of us having been there. It took quite a while; after all, it wasn't easy to get rid of 5 years' worth of memories. But we managed it. When we finally departed, Hades and Demeter had appeared. They nodded at us; namely, Hephaestus, Hermes and I, and we took off as one.

The trip to Greece was uneventful. Zeus tried to make a speech at one point, but Aphrodite stopped him and gave him and Hera a shot of whatever she used to make people fall in love, or feel like they had fallen in love. Suffice to say, the two of them held hands throughout the entire half-hour journey, to our amusement. But eventually, we arrived, landing on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. It was a splendid sight.

We moved down towards the little village. Athena turned back to us and whispered into our brains, _They want the weather to be cooler. Poseidon, this time you'll take centre stage._ The man himself hefted his trident in his right hand and smirked importantly. "Show-off," Dionysius mumbled at the back of the group.

When the 13 of us arrived in the town, we went straight to the town square. Poseidon raised his trident and summoned a great deal of water from the sea into square, where he froze it and sent it up into the sky. Zeus directed a great bolt of lightning at it from his metal lightning bolt, and the little shreds of ice fell gently from the sky. At this point, people were beginning to stare wonderingly at Zeus and Poseidon, which was when we decided that we had to play a part too.

Zeus and Poseidon played a much smaller part in our next production. Zeus only assisted Hades in dragging up a large, inverted pyramid of earth from the ground and then levitating it a few kilometres above ground. At this point, I was aware of a few busybodies in the crowd holding out video cameras as they captured the footage, open-mouthed. We didn't give them much of a show; the remainder of us flew up to begin work safe from prying eyes.

About an hour of work later, that little inverted pyramid had, on one side, a majestic construction where we were going to stay, and on the other, a sprawling paradise of greenery and exotic animals never before seen on earth, and quite a few marvels too, courtesy of Hera, Demeter, Hephaestus, Apollo and Artemis.

Work had been definitely tiring, but it was worth it when we slumped into our chairs and clinked glasses of wine while Poseidon's ice windows cooled down the entire room. In fact, we were just about to go out and have some fun when Athena gave a shout and exclaimed, "Look! Those schmucks who were taking footage of us! Their video's already got over 1000 views!"

Well, well, well. The mortals were getting interested.

ares outathena in

I fell into my chair and swivelled towards the large rectangular table, on which a Sony Internet TV and a few progressively smaller screens were resting. A few modifications later, they were all hooked up to the main power source, graciously provided by Zeus, and one keyboard, which I truthfully didn't really need.

Since my loud proclamation of the ever-increasing popularity of the video, everyone had gone off; to get us some more media coverage, they said. Yeah, right. It was more likely that they intended to abuse their powers. All in moderation, I say, but they don't typically listen, and it's left to Athena to hold the fort. Not that I don't enjoy my job, but it gets tiring, is all I'm saying. I keep the screens running and depart too, hovering over the earth as the information continues streaming into my brain.

Cameras are accessed. It seems that everyone _is_ making the most of their newfound ability to showcase their powers. Zeus and Hera are at Buckingham Palace blessing the royal child; Dionysius is in Las Vegas doing something that I'm not interested in looking at; Hermes is chatting with Warren Buffett; Aphrodite is at some model show; and each and every one of them is performing feats that are leaving even these distinguished people shaking their heads in disbelief.

And the views for the video keep increasing. I can imagine it; people being roused from their beds by their overenthusiastic friends and told to watch the video, and then spreading the same phenomenon worldwide. It is quite amazing. And already at nearly 1 million views! The comments are flooding in. Teenagers are rushing to their Facebook accounts, going, "I saw two people flying above Buckingham Palace!" or "Did you see that? That guy just froze a pond in summer by touching it!"

The phenomenon of the Olympians is spreading the world by storm. Of course, it's not without its antagonists. The Vatican is warning the faithful not to believe. However, though, having gods whom you can talk to, face to face, is far better than having one god whom you can only pray to and who only intervenes directly from time to time.

After a bit of time, I descend to earth and buy myself some dinner. The video is close to beating Gangnam Style- 1 billion views. Video responses are springing up on all file-sharing sites. Sitting in Mount Olympus and quietly eating takeaway whilst I stare at the screens intently, Hermes returns briefly to rest, then runs off.

This inspires me, myself, to move off. Everyone always told me to go outside more, anyway.

athena outhephaestus in

I removed my welding mask and looked down with favour on my newest invention: a thin metal vest to be secured across my chest. An electro-magnetic field powered by numerous miniature dynamos surrounded it. Peeling it apart with my mind, I secured it where it should have been and stepped onto a pedestal.

Metal tentacles, based on Spider-Man's Doctor Octopus, affixed themselves to my back, the electro-magnetic fields centring about their ends. On the other ends of the approximately 1.6m long appendages, there were three double-jointed sharp "fingers" that clacked in response to a mental command. Sure, I'd created Zeus' lightning bolt and the other iconic "godly" tools, but this was my _magnum opus_.

Athena called me in my head. _Hey, Hephaestus_, she informed me, _turn on your television. The United Nations just released something_. My tentacle moved towards the television set at the other end of the somewhat cramped workshop and turned it on. It was exhilarating, these tentacles. It clicked on. The UN President's solemn face and words filled the screen and the room.

"-we, the leaders of the world, have decided to bury the hatchet and start anew, working as a collective towards global peace, prosperity and technological advancement. This decision was in no small part inspired by the Olympians-" I clapped my arms to my waist and flew backwards a few feet. Due to my naturally crippled right leg, I couldn't walk without a great deal of pain that was impossible to get used to.

I always suspected that that was the first and foremost reason why they took to calling me Hephaestus.


	4. Chapter 4

Unbeknownst to the Olympians, over the 2 years when they'd arrived, there had been an exponentially growing tide of resentment and rebelliousness towards them that finally culminated in a massive anti-Olympian movement. As for the Pantheon, as they were called, they weren't seen that often anywhere other than their own haunts, places they stayed that attracted them.

It came as a surprise to them, then, when, suddenly, California, or more specifically San Francisco, was the subject of a mass migration of hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of idealistic, rebellious teenagers. They surged through Customs, buying up every single weapon in every single civilian gun shop that they passed, forcing the local government and any Olympian sympathisers out through sheer force of will and sheer force of numbers.

"We'll take care of them, sir. Don't worry." Those were the words with which the President placated Zeus, who nodded and accompanied Hera back to southern Europe. And he held true to his word, sending in a battalion of men who never came back, for they were patrolling the city with their fellow countrymen, and soon after missionaries began to leak outside the borders, preaching to anyone who would listen about the evil of the Olympians.

And the discontent began to spread. Across the world, riots were springing up, though not in the areas where the Olympians resided; the people there contented themselves with looking with smouldering eyes at the gods as they moved around. Until, eventually, the anger rose to a fever pitch.

hera in

I grumbled and opened my eyes, just as Zeus, lying beside me, regained consciousness too. "What the hell…?" He muttered under his breath, attempting to divine the cause of our awakening. The cause in question began blaring into our brains nearly immediately.

_Quick! Quick!_ It was Athena, apparently. She sounded worried, and very alarmed. _Come to Olympus, quickly! The UN's declared war on us!_ "What?" My eyes were wide open now. Zeus was already buttoning his white shirt and tying his tie. "Come on!" He called me urgently. "Let's go!"

We reached the central meeting area at Olympus in half an hour. Athena greeted us, the leaders of the Pantheon, and began the playback of the video that she'd seen about forty-five minutes ago on the screen. Everyone leaned forward. Dionysius had just arrived.

The President of the UN, and therefore, the world, was standing at a podium. A General Assembly had been hurriedly convened. He looked into the screen and began.

"People of the world, the Olympians have given us a great boon; they have terrified us into forming a global economy, a global conglomeration of research, geared towards well-being for all. We owe them that much. However, as much gratitude as we may feel towards them, there is one thing that needs to be said: they are not of this earth." A chorus of "Hear! Hear!" answered his proclamation.

"Humanity will not be led by the nose by beings alien to earth, no matter how much power they possess and no matter what degree of control they hold over us. So I say, down with the Olympians! Down with the Pantheon! Freedom for all!"

The screen exploded in a shower of electrical sparks. Zeus' hands were trembling where they were clenched against the table. I placed a calming hand on his shoulder. Finally, gripping his lightning bolt, he choked out, "They'll pay for this-"

"Bomb incoming!" Artemis suddenly shouted, eyes wild as she sprinted out the door. We ran, too, gathering a few kilometres above Olympus, which, nearly seconds after the last of us flew out, had exploded, a helicopter gunship the perpetrator of the deed.

Athena turned to Zeus. "Enough posturing," she snapped, "let's plan. We've got no time to lose."

hera out

A day after the bombing of Olympus, after the rowdy festivities ended, a YouTube account was created, and a video posted. The world watched, horrified. The name of the account was Pantheon and the video posted was the only one there before it was taken off, but the video itself remained.

The 13 Olympians were in the sky. The camera was presumably levitating, Athena's telekinesis holding it up. This time, none of them were smiling, not even Blinding-Grin Apollo, being the god of the sun and all. Zeus spoke first, and this is what he said:

"Mortals. You have dug yourselves into a pit from which no amount of grovelling or offerings is going to convince us to pull you out from. Open rebellion and defiance against us is intolerable. This cannot stand. This will not stand. The kid gloves are off, world. Prepare to face the full wrath of the Olympians."

And the video finished there. The world remained defiant, though, and so the Pantheon continued with their plan of action. The weakest and lowest class began the attack. Artemis, Apollo, Aphrodite and Dionysius moved to civilian areas.

Areas of rebellion were quashed by Artemis and Apollo. The twins of light and darkness flung spheres of- well, light and darkness- into densely populated areas and fired arrow after arrow into the crowd. When they ran out, they moved to more modern, more preferable weapons: rifles. The screaming crowd gradually dwindled to half a hundred or so lucky ones, eyes screwed shut against the light or arms flapping around in the darkness.

Aphrodite, the goddess who laughs, flew over to the more developed cities, though they were not in North America, and smiled, her somewhat skimpy hot red dress blowing around in the wind as said cities degenerated into mass orgies. And, also, being the goddess of beauty, models were demolished; their carefully calibrated good looks ruined by a snap of her fingers.

Dionysius, the mad god of ecstasy, decadent purple vest flapping open to display the stencilled middle finger on his chest, held his beer bottle up into the air, and screamed, a howl of pure ecstasy, as South America (there were quite a few less-developed cities, here, plus he liked this place) howled with him, filled with rowdiness and chaos, not so much sex as what took place a Beatles concerts.

The middle class continued the assault. Hermes, Athena, Hephaestus and Ares moved to different locations around the world, where the main military posts were.

It began in Siberia.

Hermes, the quick-footed, quick-mouthed one, extended an eighteen-inch blade from his caduceus and began to run. His momentum cut through even steel, and soon, heads began to roll, literally, the cold iron of his caduceus straight through the necks of hundreds of soldiers. He ran through miles of ice, a cigarette in his mouth, grabbing MREs faster than one could blink, and consuming them, too, likewise as quick.

Athena, the wise, all-seeing one, stationed herself in the jungles of Malaysia and messed with all computerized systems. Interfaces exploded in a shower of sparks, and submarines sank, and helicopters fell, as commands were rerouted and missiles were directed at those in their own company. The high-technology armour of many soldiers failed them, as oxygen tanks rebelled and made thousands of men choke to death in their own suits.

Hephaestus the lame, the stunted, leg withered and corrupted, took over the Middle East. Brows furrowed, he ploughed through the enemy, melting tanks and contracting helmets at the speed of thought. His metal tentacles whipped around, knocking down hundreds of men who were firing bullets at him. And, anyway, if any bullet got past their nearly omniscient gaze, they stopped short in his self-generated magnetic field.

Ares the bloodthirsty, Ares the slaughter-stained, removed his sword and double-headed battleaxe, both composed of sturdy iron, and ran, an illegible war cry erupting from his mouth, through the South American landscape, and met with legions of soldiers. Thousands died. When his axe and sword failed him, Ares impaled them in one man and grabbed _his_ weapon, firing bullets into the crowd.

As for the real destruction, wrought by the truly powerful Olympians, it began in Asia.

Zeus, master of lightning, lord of the sky, hovered above Beijing, eyes glowing electric-blue-white, hot strips crackling from his irises, raised his lightning bolt in the air. A supercharged web of electricity weaved itself above Asia, and trillions of volts' worth of lightning bolts hurtled down, destroying homes, frying neighbourhoods, demolishing public building. Then Zeus got to work reversing gravity.

Chunks of loosely-packed earth lifted off, breaking free of their mooring. People standing on the splits fell screaming down to earth. The unlucky ones levitated into the air too, moving higher and higher until they choked to death in the thin atmosphere. Asia's total landmass was decreased by 10% in the total time that Zeus was there.

In South America, Hera, the queen of the Pantheon, stood on the top floor of a grimy tenement building and daintily placed her crown on her head. Then she held her arms out, and the entire continent erupted into chaos; so far was her reach. Not even animals were spared from the horrible mutations that she inflicted. Men turned into minotaurs, women into gorgons, girls into lamias and boys into Cyclopes. Dogs grew two extra heads. Those who didn't survive the mutations were the lucky ones.

The plague spread into North America, and from there to the rest of the world. Note that none of the Olympians touched North America. They were saving the best for last.

Then, Oceania went. Poseidon stood, foot-deep in the ocean, between Australia and New Zealand, and smirked. His trident went into the water, and tidal waves attacked the coast of the numerous Oceania islands, and many more islands besides, as the lord of the waves moved around the world, dealing destruction to the many other non-Oceania islands. Even on larger landmasses, the coasts were coated with ice crystals, mementos of Poseidon's passing.

Demeter moved over Africa. She, the original fertility goddess, belly seemingly swollen with child all the time (it was a disturbing mutation of hers, to hold a child to breaking point and then have it literally crawl out of her strangely large birth canal), walked the barren desert and raised her hands up. Famine-afflicted areas were suddenly surrounded by fruit trees. Ignoring their shaman's worried advice, the people of the African savannah ate them ravenously, and died on the spot, dead from the poison.

After that, the trees spread, strangling people with their green tendrils, and impaling them on their thorns. Massive pitcher plants drowned both man and women alike, and Venus flytraps digested whole households, screaming as they went in.

In Europe, Hades smiled his lipless, skeletal smile and hefted his skull-topped staff as the territories of Europe were wracked by devastating earthquakes, opening up chasms that swallowed up screaming people as quickly as they coughed up moaning undead. Recently animated bodies bit others and the zombie plague spread.

The North American territories were worried, very worried indeed. They considered surrender, but realized that that wouldn't save them from the wrath of the Pantheon. After all, the anti-Olympian movement had begun there. They may as well have spat in Zeus' face.

Fortunately (depending on how one looks at it), the machinations of the Olympians had spread into Canada, Mexico, Alaska and Greenland; essentially, all but the USA, which was singled out. The President braced himself for the inevitable devastation that was to follow.

And, eventually, it came.

There had been a brief lull in the destruction as people cleaned up their lives and rebuilt their homes. The Olympians didn't show their faces in public; at least, not yet. The first sign of trouble came on a sunny day in downtown Miami, where the partying was somewhat more subdued, where 13 people had descended from the skies.

The military was called. Fearing further action against their countries, the rest of the leaders of the world clandestinely gave the US all their military units and weapons, and then surrendered. Now, the USA was the only superpower on earth. Of course, it fell all the same.

The Pantheon strode across the (empty) sun-bathed sands of downtown Miami, Hermes uncapping his caduceus to reveal that feared blade and Hephaestus' twelve pincers on his four tentacles stiffening into twelve similar blades. Hera lifted her crown out quietly. Ares hefted his newly re-forged axe and sword in his hands. Apollo and Artemis nocked their bows. Zeus took a deep breath...

And all hell broke loose.

Nearly immediately, all 13 of them took to the air. Lightning cracked the sky open. The ocean culminated in a massive tidal wave, and earthquakes split the USA open. Men and women fell down on the streets, clutching at their clothing as their hair began to turn into snakes, as their two eyes bonded into one. Plants exploded out of the asphalt, swarming screaming passersby. The top five stayed where they were.

Hundreds of men and women had their heads severed in the streets by Hermes that day. Computerized systems exploded into chaos. Steel-and-glass buildings burst into flame and the steel columns in them melted into glop. Ares charged through the cities, roaring as he cut, stabbed and repeated. Artemis and Apollo stood back to back, firing arrows at passersby, infecting them with mind-numbing darkness or disorienting light.

Aphrodite plunged the suburbs into a mass orgy. Models had their faces literally torn open. Dionysius raised his hand up, and madness erupted as inhibitions were removed with such force that everyone ran screaming, head-banging, out of wherever they were at that point in time. And, finally, when they were all done, they vacated San Francisco, which they had eventually reached and focussed their power on, and moved a little to the sides of California, for the big five were going to do their _magnum opus_.

It only lasted a minute.

The full force of a trillion volts of lightning, the crushing power of all the water surrounding San Francisco, the violence of a million fault lines splitting open was focussed on the centre of the rebellion, plants exploding and engulfing skyscrapers and men and women screaming again and again. And then- nothing.

San Francisco was no more. Of even rubble, there was little. Not even bones were left. The Golden Gate Bridge was torn apart.

The Olympians withdrew.


End file.
